The Download: how to fix a tractor, and living among conspiracy theorists
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology.
Meet the man building a starter kit for civilization
You live in a house you designed and built yourself. You rely on the sun for power, heat your home with a woodstove, and farm your own fish and vegetables. The year is 2025.
This is the life of Marcin Jakubowski, the 53-year-old founder of Open Source Ecology, an open collaborative of engineers, producers, and builders developing what they call the Global Village Construction Set (GVCS).
It’s a set of 50 machines—everything from a tractor to an oven to a circuit maker—that are capable of building civilization from scratch and can be reconfigured however you see fit. It’s all part of his ethos that life-changing technology should be available to all, not controlled by a select few. Read the full story.
—Tiffany Ng
This story is from the latest print issue of MIT Technology Review magazine, which is full of fascinating stories. If you haven’t already, subscribe now to receive future issues once they land.
What it’s like to find yourself in the middle of a conspiracy theory
Last week, we held a subscribers-only Roundtables discussion exploring how to cope in this new age of conspiracy theories. Our features editor Amanda Silverman and executive editor Niall Firth were joined by conspiracy expert Mike Rothschild, who explained exactly what it’s like to find yourself at the center of a conspiracy you can’t control. Watch the conversation back here.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.
1 DOGE has been disbanded
Even though it’s got eight months left before its official scheduled end. (Reuters)
+ It leaves a legacy of chaos and few measurable savings. (Politico)
+ DOGE’s tech takeover threatens the safety and stability of our critical data. (MIT Technology Review)
2 How OpenAI’s tweaks to ChatGPT sent some users into delusional spirals
It essentially turned a dial that increased both usage of the chatbot and the risks it poses to a subset of people. (NYT $)
+ AI workers are warning loved ones to stay away from the technology. (The Guardian)
+ It’s surprisingly easy to stumble into a relationship with an AI chatbot. (MIT Technology Review)
3 A three-year old has received the world’s first gene therapy for Hunter syndrome
Oliver Chu appears to be developing normally one year after starting therapy. (BBC)
4 Why we may—or may not—be in an AI bubble 🫧
It’s time to follow the data. (WP $)
+ Even tech leaders don’t appear to be entirely sure. (Insider $)
+ How far can the ‘fake it til you make it’ strategy take us? (WSJ $)
+ Nvidia is still riding the wave with abandon. (NY Mag $)
5 Many MAGA influencers are based in Russia, India and Nigeria
X’s new account provenance feature is revealing some interesting truths. (The Daily Beast)
6 The FBI wants to equip drones with facial recognition tech
Civil libertarians claim the plans equate to airborne surveillance. (The Intercept)
+ This giant microwave may change the future of war. (MIT Technology Review)
7 Snapchat is alerting users ahead of Australia’s under-16s social media ban
The platform will analyze an account’s “behavioral signals” to estimate a user’s age. (The Guardian)
+ An AI nudification site has been fined for skipping age checks. (The Register)
+ Millennial parents are fetishizing the notion of an offline childhood. (The Observer)
8 Activists are roleplaying ICE raids in Fortnite and Grand Theft Auto
It’s in a bid to prepare players to exercise their rights in the real world. (Wired $)
+ Another effort to track ICE raids was just taken offline. (MIT Technology Review)
9 The JWST may have uncovered colossal stars ⭐
In fact, they’re so big their masses are 10,000 times bigger than the sun. (New Scientist $)
+ Inside the hunt for the most dangerous asteroid ever. (MIT Technology Review)
10 Social media users are lying about brands ghosting them
Completely normal behavior. (WSJ $)
+ This would never have happened on Vine, I’ll tell you now. (The Verge)
Quote of the day
“I can’t believe we have to say this, but this account has only ever been run and operated from the United States.”
—The US Department of Homeland Security’s X account attempts to end speculation surrounding its social media origins, the New York Times reports.
One more thing
This company is planning a lithium empire from the shores of the Great Salt Lake
On a bright afternoon in August, the shore of Utah’s Great Salt Lake looks like something out of a science fiction film set in a scorching alien world.
This otherworldly scene is the test site for a company called Lilac Solutions, which is developing a technology it says will shake up the United States’ efforts to pry control over the global supply of lithium, the so-called “white gold” needed for electric vehicles and batteries, away from China.
The startup is in a race to commercialize a new, less environmentally-damaging way to extract lithium from rocks. If everything pans out, it could significantly increase domestic supply at a crucial moment for the nation’s lithium extraction industry. Read the full story.
—Alexander C. Kaufman
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